Tuesday, May 13, 2008

the past, a present

oh no, I can't really sound like that?
That's me chatting with the charming Guido Stein on Its a Purl, Man podcast.
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As in, what a gift ! Blog content sitting right here under my nose, um, actually on my shoulders. This is how happy I feel wearing my handspun alpaca shawl, knit last October. (full disclosure, I am portrayed here by a sister but I didn't have to coach her, it feels that good to be wrapped in this yarn)

I can finally show projects I test knit under shroud of secrecy feverishly and sometimes just barely competently last year while working on Shear Spirit.

A sister and niece passing through last weekend were invited bullied into modeling , you'll see them a few times in more of these posts.
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pattern: Meseta Alta Shawl from Shear Spirit.
yarn: handspun alpaca from Victory Ranch. Luscious beyond belief.

For reference, here's the pattern shown in the book, knit by the designer for us.
mesAlta

notes: I made my brown shawl smaller intentionally than the one above , using (?) 430-ish yards of the heavy worsted weight handspun yarn, instead of the 700- ish yards of the lighter weight machinespun Victory Ranch alpaca shown in the book. The larger one is flowier and certainly more delicate looking but I adore mine, and its gotten a lot of wear. I like to make believe it's dressy but earthy may be the better adjective.

fun fact: see all that fringe? every inch of it was cut and attached to the shawl on a MetroNorth train enroute to a meeting in NY, I'd idiotically decided I had to have this shawl to wear and cut the timing too close. I 'd been fringing calmly for about 20 minutes after leaving the New Haven station when I did the math of how many fringes I had to do, how long it took me to apply each one - I think I decided it was 3 in every 2 minutes- and divided the remaining 90 minutes of the trip, and started to sweat...let's just say I looked like Lucy & Ethel in the candy factory. I bet I scared onlookers.

It was worth it.
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10 comments:

Carole Knits said...

It looks terrific and cuddly!

Anonymous said...

Oooh, I'm working on that same shawl right now out of some localy grown alpaca. It is terribly addictive (both the yarn and the pattern) and I can't wait until it is done.

(As a matter of fact, I probably knit a little too much on it while I should have been studying for my final...)

gale (she shoots sheep shots) said...

Hey Cathy R do you have a blog? I want to see it! Reading your post makes me want to knit another Meseta Alta, it is very addictive knitting. This time I'd go lighter weight.

Rebecca said...

oh what a darling shawl, i love it!

Anonymous said...

>>I looked like Lucy & Ethel in the candy factory<<

And the shawls look just as delicious as the candy!

Mary Lou said...

Another lovely pattern from Shear Spirit - I keep finding another one
I really like when I open the book to show off. Yours looks great.

Carol said...

Oooh! lovely! I can see why you get alot of wear out of this one!

Cristina said...

Did you get through it with Vitameatavegamin? The shawl is intoxicating!

craftivore said...

Hah, I bet your scared away anyone who wanted to sit next to you on the train, which really is the goal, isn't it? The shawl is lovely.

Karen S, Lykkefanten said...

heh heh heh, you just made me smile with the thought of you fringing away in the train ;) I love that shawl, and actually plan to knit one for myself in my own hand-spun alpaca... just have to finish spinning first ;)